Month: August 2019

Trump is Terrified That He’s Losing the Senate, Paving the Way for Impeachment

Posted by on August 31, 2019 at 12:48 pm. NO Comments :

The best gauge of what Donald Trump’s paranoid, narcissistic mind is obsessed with at any given moment is his frantic and self-serving Twitter feed. Trump has no ability to give thoughtful consideration to what he tweets. He simply lets his innermost anxieties gush like a busted fire hydrant spewing unrestrained panic.

Donald Trump Impeach

On Saturday morning Trump was at Camp David where he said he was monitoring the approaching Hurricane Dorian as it lumbers toward Florida. Trump had canceled a previously scheduled diplomatic mission to Poland allegedly to manage preparations for the hurricane. However, he has already left Camp David for a golf outing in Virginia. But even prior to that he was paying much more attention to Twitter than to the weather forecast.

Trump’s tweets covered a couple predictable subjects that had to do with his obsession over former FBI Director James Comey, who he fired two years ago, and the firing of his personal assistant, Madeleine Westerhout, yesterday. Not surprisingly, Trump lied about Comey releasing classified documents, which his own Justice Department’s Inspector General said didn’t happen. And he threatened Westerhout with a lawsuit if she violated an alleged non-disclosure agreement. Of course, Trump cannot enforce any such agreement for White House staff because they don’t work for him. They work for the United States government.

However, Something else was consuming Trump’s pitifully limited attention span, and it exploded all over his Twitter feed. There were twenty-five (25!) tweets or retweets of Senate Republicans, along with Trump’s compliments and vague, insincere flattery. That’s an astonishingly large quantity of tweets by Trump on a subject that isn’t himself. So what might have triggered this uncharacteristic outburst of political angst?

Clearly Trump’s advisors are warning him of the harsh environment he’s facing in the upcoming election of 2020. His favorite pollster, Rasmussen, recently placed his favorability near his lows for the year. And even a Fox News poll shows him losing to every one of the top Democratic candidates.

The picture isn’t any better for the Republicans in the Senate. Next year they will have twenty-two incumbents on the ballot (including GOP Leader Mitch McConnell), compared with only twelve for the Democrats. And with people like Cory Gardner of Colorado, Susan Collins of Maine, and Martha McSally of Arizona, struggling to stay competitive, the odds of Democrats winning the majority in the Senate are increasingly likely.

Should that happen Mitch McConnell would no longer have the tyrannical hold on the upper body that he has been abusing for years. The 200+ bills passed in the Democratically-controlled House of Representatives would finally get a vote in the Senate. But most foreboding from Trump’s perspective is that there would no longer be any partisan protection from a possible impeachment. And if there is strong Blue Wave sweeping the GOP out of Congress, the remaining members might actually be concerned enough about their own futures to take Trump’s high crimes and misdemeanors seriously.

Even before the 2020 election, GOP senators who see the oncoming trainwreck might start to drift away from Trump in order to save themselves. Even if that means throwing him overboard. Consequently, Trump is lavishing attention and praise on the Republican senators he has for the most part ignored or treated as lackeys whose only purpose was to serve him. He now needs to gain their support and demonstrate that he’s willing to work harder for their reelection. Not because he really cares about either their political fate or even their agenda. But because he fears the consequences for himself without the safety net they provide.

Unfortunately for Trump, it’s too late for this selfish strategy to work. Anyone who supports Trump is already planning to vote the Republican line. He has no ability to attract new voters. In fact, he’s so polarizing that his presence will probably scare more voters away. So the desperation he’s showing with this tweetstorm is actually good news for Democrats and other patriotic Americans who are anxious to see Trump impeached. His overt expression of fear shows that he’s truly concerned that there’s a real possibility that he will be removed from office and prosecuted for his wrongdoings and betrayal. And for once, he’s right.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

The Love Affair Between Trump and Fox News Has Been All Patched Up, Thank Gawd

Posted by on August 30, 2019 at 4:30 pm. 3 Comments :

There was a brief disturbance in the force this week when Donald Trump became disenchanted with his own State TV network, Fox News. Trump’s ire appeared to have been triggered by Fox having the audacity to interview a representative of the Democratic Party. He seems to think that Fox News is forbidden to interview anyone that isn’t a card-carrying StormTrumper.

Donald Trump, Fox News, White House

Trump unleashed a Twitter tantrum that included his declaration that “Fox isn’t working for us anymore,” and an order to his Deplorables that “We have to start looking for a new News Outlet.” These missives might have startled some in the media business, but those who have seen this sort of whining on Trump’s part before weren’t surprised. While he has had several breakups with Fox, they were always short-lived and the two lovers managed to kiss and make up every time.

The evidence that the latest rift in the Trump/Fox Affair has been mended is Trump’s Twitter feed on Friday. It contained five videos from Fox News all on a single subject: The Justice Department’s Inspector General report on James Comey. Trump could have gotten this news from anywhere, but he chose to feature the Fox segments because – well, Fox is still his sweetheart.

For the record, Trump and Fox News were both obsessed with the IG’s report and presented it as proof of Comey’s corruption and bias. Nevermind that the report explicitly stated that Comey broke no laws, which is why Trump’s corrupt Attorney General, William Barr, declined to prosecute. As for bias, Fox and Trump have never explained why Comey sabotaged Hillary Clinton’s campaign if he was supposedly supporting her.

The videos Trump posted included one with a phony “Democrat” who frequently appears on Fox News to bark at Democrats. Then there was one that featured a former prosecutor and current Fox Democrat basher. And there were three videos featuring Republican congressmen whose predictable partisanship was flagrantly on display.

Obviously Trump has gotten over his beef with Fox News. He always knew that Fox was his best friend and that their tiff would subside. Because where else can he go? He isn’t going to soil himself with the networks he calls “the enemy of the people.” And other right-wing media outlets are pitifully small and ineffectual. He knows that only Fox News has the sort of worshipful sycophants who can go on the air and say with conviction that Donald Trump has never told a lie, which is what Stuart Varney just did. It takes a special brand of deranged cult devotion to satisfy Trump’s massive and fragile ego. And only Fox News can offer that.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

Lying Fox News Host Lies that Trump Has Never Lied to the American People

Posted by on August 30, 2019 at 12:23 pm. 3 Comments :

The mission of Fox News from its inception was to advance the goals of the nationalist right-wing and the Republican Party. But when Donald Trump came along they transformed noticeably into a State TV propaganda outlet devoted single-mindedly to this president and his hostile and demented ravings. Virtually every program lavishes praise on Trump and viciously maligns his critics.

Fox News, Donald Trump

What’s worse, is that there is no lie that is beneath the already sunken principles of Fox News. They are taking their cues from a president who has already told more than 12,000 lies since his inauguration. The legacy of the Trump presidency (contrary to his delusional hopes) will surely include this historically depraved achievement, along with caging babies and being a puppet for Vladimir Putin.

As if to to emphasize the enthusiasm Fox News has for lying about Trump, one of his favorite Fox hosts, Stuart Varney, conducted a dumbfounding interview with conservative Republican Joe Walsh who is challenging Trump for the GOP nomination for president. Walsh is hardly a pristine representative of political ethics, but in this segment (video below) of Varney’s program he shines with uncharacteristic virtue, and makes Varney look like a flaccid Trump sycophant and cult follower.

Walsh began by correctly observing that “We’ve never had a situation like this where we have a president that we fundamentally cannot believe.” A surprisingly skeptical Varney asked Walsh for an example. That was his first mistake. Walsh quickly provided an example from just the day before when Trump’s own staff admitted that Trump lied at the G7 summit when he said that he held high level phone calls with China about tariffs. Walsh’s example led to this bizarre exchange and ludicrous denial:

Varney: That’s not a lie. Let’s not get technical. If the man said – and he did – that high level talks had been held with China, that is not a lie. They were held with China.
Walsh: Stuart, he said there were high level phone calls with Chinese officials. His staff admitted that was not true, that he lied in order to manipulate the market.
Varney: Okay, give me another one.
Walsh: Stuart, you really don’t believe that that’s a lie?
Varney: No I don’t.

It is impossible to have a coherent discussion with someone who hears a flagrant falsehood, but denies what he just heard and tries to move past it in complete blindness. Varney simply accepts whatever Trump says as the truth, even if his own staff says that it isn’t. This isn’t political loyalty. It’s cult worship. And it continued further as the interview progressed:

Walsh: Do you believe this president lies?
Varney: No.
Walsh: You don’t believed he’s ever lied?
Varney: He exaggerates and spins.
Walsh: Okay, do you believe he’s ever told the American people a lie?
Varney: No.

Walsh finally gave up in exasperation as he realized that Varney’s doctrinal programming was impenetrable. He has clearly adopted the first order of a cult: Believe only the Leader. Everyone else is lying. And this isn’t even the first time this week that a Trump shill has claimed that Trump never utters anything less than the God’s honest truth. On CNN Chris Cuomo interviewed Trump’s 2020 campaign Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany. She also insisted that Trump has never ever told a lie. Trump’s new press secretary, Stephanie Grisham, said that she doesn’t think his lies are lies. This is all reminiscent of Kellyanne Conway’s “alternative facts,” And Rudy Giuliani’s “Truth isn’t truth.”

No rational person could ever assert that Trump has never told a lie. Trump has lied about things big and small. He’s lied about tariffs being paid by China; about his polling; about the size of his crowds; about Obama; about the environment; about the border wall; and always about the news being fake. But Trump’s disciples regard him as a messiah who is an infallible manifestation of perfection. Which is precisely how Trump regards himself, having recently declared that he is “The Chosen One.” And sadly, his Deplorables believe that too.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

Delusional Donald Hopes the Legacy of the ‘Age of Trump’ Will Be Exposing “Fake’ News

Posted by on August 29, 2019 at 4:15 pm. 3 Comments :

It has only been about two and a half years since Donald Trump was inaugurated as president. Yes, it seems like at least a decade, but that’s only because it’s been filled with so much pain, disgust, and shock. And with just over half of a single term elapsed, Trump is already fantasizing about how history will treat him when he’s gone. Which is precisely what you’d expect of a self-absorbed, and dangerously psychotic, narcissist.

Donald Trump

Trump posted a tweet wherein he referred to a future historical period that he deemed the “Age of Trump.” That’s mighty audacious of him considering that ages, in geological terms, often extend for periods of time that far exceed even a two-term presidency. For example, the Age of the Dinosaurs or the Industrial Age. What’s more, his term as president is unlikely to define even that limited period of time in anything but books about the decline of Western civilization. Here is what he tweeted:

Trump’s maniacal assertion that we are currently living in a time of unprecedented fraud and corruption in the media is purely a fabrication of his own diseased brain. To be sure, there are isolated tumors in the body of the press that are malignant and growing. The pus oozing from Fox News is evidence of that. But that isn’t what Trump is referring to (although he recently took a swipe at his State TV network, even ordering his cult followers to “start looking for a new news outlet”). What Trump regards as fraudulent is any news that isn’t wholly adoring and worshipful. And it is from that perspective that he imagines his legacy as being one of exposing “massive dishonesty in the Fake News.”

There are only two significant problems with Trump’s dream of his own epoch. First of all, he has never exposed a single example of dishonesty in the media. All he does is whine about negative, but truthful, stories that trigger his anger and vengeance. He doesn’t provide any proof that any of these stories are false. He just screech-tweets his displeasure at being held to account for his ignorance, incompetence, and dishonesty.

The second problem with Trump’s hoped for future adulation as a news-buster is that there are so many other more important developments that overshadow his imaginary media exposés. If he is going to be remembered for anything it’s more likely be as the president who had caged babies, or lied about building a wall that Mexico would pay for, or banned Muslims from entering the country, or failed to either repeal or replace Obamacare, or embraced neo-Nazis and white nationalists, or doubled the national debt on the backs of middle-class Americans, or packed the Supreme Court with disreputable heathens, or openly expressed overtly racist views, or endeavored to hasten the destruction of the Earth by rolling back environmental regulations and dismissing Climate Change as a hoax.

And if those frightful hallmarks of the “Age of Trump” don’t dominate his historical remembrances, maybe it will be his more comically embarrassing ventures as the president who tried to buy Greenland, or nuke hurricanes, or fear monger about windmill cancer, or become the Commander-in-Chief of the Space Force. Then again, he could be recalled for the coming Trump Recession, or his impeachment for conspiring with Russia and obstructing justice, or his arrest after being thrown out of the White House.

Either way, these are the sort of things that Trump will be remembered, despised, and/or ridiculed for. It won’t have anything to do with his fictitious allegations about the press. And in the end, the best part of recalling the post-Trumpian age will be that he’s gone. Hopefully before too many of us are.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

Big Baby Trump Threatens to Sue MSNBC, O’Donnell Over Report that Russians Co-Signed Loans

Posted by on August 28, 2019 at 3:21 pm. 4 Comments :

Poor Donald Trump. He thought that all of his misdeeds and corruption would remain secret in perpetuity. Unfortunately for him, his methods of deception have been just as incompetent and ineffective as everything else he does. Consequently, each new day brings another revelation of some legal or ethical breach that he hoped would stay buried.

Donald Trump

The latest bit of bad news for Trump comes in the form of a speculative report that aired on MSNBC’s The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell. On Tuesday night the program revealed allegations from a confidential source who said that some of Trump’s loans from the shady Deutsche Bank were co-signed by Russian oligarchs connected to Vladimir Putin. This could be a bombshell story that would explain much of Trump’s affinity for – and coddling of – Russia generally, and Putin in particular.

The public disclosure of this sort of financial arrangement would be devastating for Trump. Consequently, he is punching back with all his impotent might. Trump had his personal attorney, Charles Harder, dash off a letter with a stern warning to O’Donnell and the network that should make them think twice:

“We write concerning the false and defamatory statements published by Lawrence O’Donnell and NBC Universal […] The Program and Tweet make the false and defamatory statements that ‘Russian oligarchs’ cosigned loans provided to Mr. Trump by Deutsche Bank, and described these ‘co-signers’ as ‘Russian billionaires close to Vladimir Putin.'” These statements are false and defamatory, and extremely damaging.”

Demand is hereby made that Mr. O’Donnell and NBCU immediately and prominently retract, correct and apologize for the aforementioned false and defamatory statements. [and that] Failure to do so will leave my clients with no alternative but to consider their legal options which could include immediate legal proceedings against Mr. O’Donnell and NBCU.”

This is an entirely bogus threat that is highly unlikely to ever be carried out. The allegations that O’Donnell reported were presented as speculative from the outset. He presented it that way in a teaser at the beginning of the show where he said that “I want to stress that it is a single source that has not been confirmed by NBC News [and that] it’s going to require a lot more verification before that can be a confirmable fact.” He repeated these disclaimers in the segment that aired later. He could not have been more clear, repeatedly prefacing his remarks by saying “If true…” Therefore, he never presented it as fact, only the assertions of his source, as is evident in the video of the segment:

Trump is well known to engage in legal bullying, wherein he threatens people with lawsuits, but usually chickens out before filing any. In fact, he’s done that before with O’Donnell. In 2011 he threatened to sue O’Donnell for saying that Trump was not really a billionaire. That lawsuit never materialized. And neither will this one. O’Donnell has already taken the high road by tweeting that he “made an error in judgment” by reporting the unconfirmed story.

It’s hard to know if his walking this back was due to his own journalistic standards or pressure from the network which might have been spooked by the threat of litigation. But there are good reasons why they need not worry. This lawsuit, if pursued, could have some unintended consequences for Trump and company. First, it would disseminate to a much larger audience the allegation that he needed Russian oligarchs to co-sign his loans. That would confirm already known facts regarding Trump’s dire financial status and inability to secure loans on his own from reputable institutions. The lawsuit would also result in a discovery process which would require Trump to provide otherwise confidential documents to the legal representatives of O’Donnell and MSNBC. That requirement by itself will likely scare Trump out of ever actually filing any lawsuit.

So no one should be getting out the popcorn to watch this goofy episode of Trump’s reality show. It is almost certainly going to be preempted by some other Trump nonsense like buying Greenland or nuking hurricanes. This will just end up being another infantile tantrum thrown by our Crybaby-in-Chief that will amount to nothing but blather and the pathetic hissing of a wounded weasel.

UPDATE: True to his word, O’Donnell opened his program Wednesday night with a statement about the Deutsche Bank story. He reiterated the story had not gone through “the rigorous verification process” at MSNBC. Along with the retraction, he also pointedly noted that “We don’t know whether the information is inaccurate. But the fact is we do know that it wasn’t ready for broadcast. And for that I apologize.”

Interestingly, although O’Donnell provided everything Trump’s lawyer’s asked for (a retraction and an apology), Eric Trump demonstrated why the Trump word is worthless. He tweeted that “Apologies are not enough,” and that “we will be taking legal action.” So there’s still hope that a lawsuit will proceed and the discovery process will force Trump to hand over documents they would otherwise keep secret. It’s still more likely that Trump will chicken out, but given his profound stupidity, he might just be dumb enough to go through with it.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

Trump vs Fox News: Orders His Cult Followers to ‘Start Looking For a New News Outlet’

Posted by on August 28, 2019 at 11:27 am. 3 Comments :

The hypersensitive state of Donald Trump’s thin skin and fragile ego is being tested as the country gets ever more disgusted by his ignorance and incompetence. Now his State TV network (aka Fox News) is taking heat for not having the purity of devotion that he requires. This is a peculiar development considering how worshipful Fox News is toward Trump and the network’s commitment to its mission of advancing the interests of the Republican Nationalist Party.

Donald Trump, Fox News, Fake

On Wednesday morning Trump unleashed another of his crazed tweetstorms in response to an interview on Fox News with Democratic National Committee spokesperson Xochitl Hinojosa. His anger seemed to be focused on just the fact that Fox would consent to book a Democrat.

So an interview, in Trump’s diseased mind, is tantamount to “heavily promoting” the Democratic Party that he has called “the true enemies of America.” That’s in addition, of course, to his raving that the media is “the enemy of the people.” Trump seems to think that Fox News is forbidden to interview anyone that isn’t a card-carrying StormTrumper.

Trump’s complaint was that Hinojosa was “spewing out whatever she wanted,” because he clearly hates the free speech provisions in the First Amendment of the Constitution. Then Trump goes on to whine incoherently about the “socialists” he believes Fox has hired as pundits. He obviously doesn’t know the meaning of that word, or most others for that matter.

But despite his unbridled rage, he wants everyone to know that he’s still confident of his ability to win. Nevermind that recent polls show him losing to all five of the top Democrats, including in the battleground states he won in 2016. Even his favorite pollster, the disreputably biased Rasmussen, recently had Trump near his low point for the year.

However, the most astonishing tweet of the morning showed that Trump was through tolerating the radical left-wingers at Fox News:

So you have your marching orders, Deplorables. It’s time for you to “start looking for a new News Outlet,” because “Fox isn’t working for us anymore!” What’s interesting about this is that it’s another admission that Trump believes that Fox News is supposed to be working for him. That definitively confirms what has been observable for years to anyone with a functioning frontal cortex.

This isn’t the first time that Trump has made this connection to Fox. Just last week he whined that he was “not happy with Fox“ and threatened them saying that “I’m the one who calls the shots.” Last month he attacked Fox saying that they were “worse than watching low ratings Fake News @CNN,” and that “they forgot the people who got them there!” Trump even threatened to conduct an official investigation into why Fox had stopped airing all of his cult rallies live.

You have to wonder what Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham, Jeanine Pirro, Lou Dobbs, Jesse Watters, and the “Curvy Couch” potatoes of Fox and Friends will have to say about Trump ordering his brainwashed minions to find another propaganda network. To be sure, Trump still lauds these sycophantic shills, but when he makes broad-based denouncements like this, no one is safe from the rancid spray of his scattershot wrath. That’s how the mind of a malignant narcissist works. The only thing that registers is unqualified adoration, and any diversion from such constitutes treason.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

Trump-Fluffing on Fox News: Hosts Promote Bed-Buggy Doral Resort for the 2020 G7

Posted by on August 27, 2019 at 11:57 am. 3 Comments :

In his closing remarks at the G7 summit in France, Donald Trump managed to deliver an infomercial for his Doral Miami Golf Resort to host the next G7 summit in 2020. It was a painfully self-serving spectacle that is also a likely violation of the Constitution. At the very least it’s a predictably Trumpy exhibit of greed and an utter lack of ethics.

Fox News Friends

Not surprisingly, Fox News weighed in on the idea the following morning. On Fox and Friends the “Curvy Couch” potatoes did a segment (video below) agreeing with Trump that Doral would be the perfect place for the summit. Even though there are thousands of hotels and conference centers across America that would be ideal for such an event. It’s just a weird coincidence that the site owned by Trump happens to be the best place of all. Who would have thought?

The segment began with Steve Doocy introducing Trump’s sales pitch from France. And it was all downhill from there. Brian Kilmeade jumped in to insist that there was no favoritism involved because Trump “would want to do it there anyway. It’s just the perfect site … Trump Tower is not available.” Then Doocy acknowledged the potential legal problems, but also provided an excuse:

“Critics say the use of his property for official business violates the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution. I’m sure the president has asked the lawyers, ‘Hey, how can I donate this, how can we possibly work around it?”

The Emoluments Clause prohibits the President from accepting money, or anything of value, from foreign governments or persons. So if the representatives of the G7 had to actually pay Trump in order to attend the next summit, that’s a pretty obvious violation. Even if the site was donated, the publicity would have to be considered something of enormous value and, therefore, illegal. What’s more, Doocy is playing clairvoyant by surmising with certainty that Trump would have consulted his lawyers. You know, geniuses like Rudy Giuliani. But based on his past, that actually seems like the last thing Trump would do.

Ainsley Earhardt also contributed to the unpaid advertisement by remarking that “It would be a beautiful place, though, for world leaders to go and see what our country looks like.” Because all of America looks exactly like an elite golf spa in Miami? She then declared that Doral was “representative” of the country, before adding that “I’ve never been to Doral.” So in other words, she’s an expert, by Fox News standards.

None of the Fox friends bothered to mention that Doral had a serious problem with bed bugs a couple of years ago. But Trump couldn’t resist bringing it up:

Trump’s denials are in keeping with his tendency to lie about virtually anything. Even though – as in this case – he settled a lawsuit against the resort for the infestation. Trump and the Foxies also neglected to mention that Doral has been suffering a severe financial drought. It’s net operating income has dropped 69 percent in two years. So that would make Trump’s promotion of it even more suspicious as an attempt rescue another one of his floundering business enterprises.

It’s bad enough that Fox News is a 24/7, State TV, propaganda machine for Trump and his Republican Nationalist Party. But is there nothing too unethical for this so-called “news” network to do on behalf of their Dear Leader? They have already appeared at Trump’s political cult rallies. And they can be relied upon to defend any atrocity that Trump commits, while viciously maligning his critics. Now they are even serving as the sales agents for his failing golf resort. It would be oddly comforting if this were the bottom of the Fox News/Trump abyss. But every time it seems we’re there, they find a way dig even deeper.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

Fox News Accidentally Says that Donald Trump is An Unelectable Slimeball

Posted by on August 26, 2019 at 3:25 pm. 6 Comments :

Some of the best moments on Fox News occur when they have no idea what they are talking about. This happens with some frequency considering the low bar that Fox sets for hiring pundits and commentators. The prerequisites for a job at Fox News are primarily the willingness to lie effusively on behalf of Donald Trump and his Republican Nationalist Party, and blond hair.

Donald Trump, Fox News

On Monday morning’s episode of Outnumbered there was a perfect example of this tendency that Fox has to stumble onto something truthful without ever knowing they did so. The program had a segment on the just announced candidacy of radio host and, former Tea Party Republican, Joe Walsh, for the GOP nomination for president. He’s a longshot challenger to Trump, but his conservative credentials and passionate denouncements of Trump could take a toll on the embattled and mentally infirm incumbent. While discussing Walsh’s prospects in the race, Fox host Shannon Bream sought to itemize his weaknesses by revisiting some his previous abhorrent statements (video below):

“This is what Joe Walsh said: ‘Obama’s a Muslim. He’s an enemy and a traitor.’ He said this about Kamala Harris: ‘If you’re black and a woman you say dumb things, lowered bar.’ He also got duped by Sacha Baron Cohen about arming toddlers and kindergartners with guns. […] I think critics might say it’s astonishing that he even thinks he can run right now.”

Okay, then. That’s now the Fox News criteria for establishing when someone is unfit to run for president, There were four standards laid out: Calling Obama a Muslim, calling Obama an enemy, saying black women are stupid, and getting punked by a hoaxster. Let’s see how Trump stands up.

In March of 2011, Trump was interviewed on the Laura Ingraham radio show prior to her joining Fox News. Among Trump’s noxious remarks was praise for the racists who insisted that President Obama was not an American. “A lot of the so-called Birthers,” Trump said, “these are great people. These are really great American people.” Much like the “very fine” Nazis Trump gushed over a few years later. He went on to say of Obama that…

“He doesn’t have a birth certificate, or if he does, there’s something on that certificate that is very bad for him […] perhaps it would be that where it says ‘religion,’ it might have ‘Muslim.’ And if you’re a Muslim, you don’t change your religion.”

One down. Moving on, there is always a Trump tweet that manages to demonstrate his utter idiocy and/or hypocrisy. And in this matter there’s one where he literally posted a comment that said: “Obama is our worst enemy.”

Two down. Moving on, Trump is a well-known misogynist who’s past is replete with harassment, assault, and ceaseless bullying and insults. But specific to the standard set above, he has been especially demeaning to women of color in Congress and the media. His remarks about sending several congresswomen “back where they came from” was only the most recent incident. On many occasions he blatantly attacked African-American reporters for doing their job. For instance, he shouted down Abby Phillip of CNN saying “What a stupid question that is. What a stupid question. But I watch you a lot. You ask a lot of stupid questions.”

Three down. Moving on, Trump was also the victim of a prank call. Comedian “Stuttering” John Melendez (of Howard Stern’s radio show) got through to Trump on Air Force One by pretending to be New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez. The call was directed to Trump by his son-in-law and senior advisor, Jared Kushner.

So that’s all four of the criteria enumerated by Bream that make it “astonishing that he even thinks he can run right now.” Of course there are innumerable other reasons that Trump’s campaign is astonishing. They include his brazen violations of the law by welcoming and encouraging Russia’s attack on our election; his obstruction of justice; his breach of the Constitution’s emoluments clause; his overt racism and support for white nationalists; his coziness with brutal foreign tyrants; and his 12,000+ lies to the American people.

And that’s just for starters. Trump has disparaged American intelligence agencies. He has sided with Vladimir Putin against the U.S. His economic idiocy (tax cuts for the wealthy, benefit cuts for Social Security and Medicare, trade war, bullying the Fed, etc.) will likely lead to a severe recession. So it will be interesting to see if Fox News will hold Trump to the same standards they laid out for Walsh. Or even if they will hold him to the principles that the GOP used to advocate. Don’t hold your breath.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

Dumb Trump Lies: My Most Asked Question at G7 is ‘Why Does American Media Hate America?’

Posted by on August 25, 2019 at 12:20 pm. 3 Comments :

The leaders of the seven largest national economies in the world (the Group of Seven, or G7) are currently meeting in Biarritz, France. There is surely much to discuss about international trade, currencies, investments, labor, the climate crisis, and more. But Donald Trump, alone among his colleagues, is fixated on an issue that has long been a fetish that he can’t seem to shake off.

Donald Trump

While in France Trump has predictably tweeted up a storm about a variety of matters that have nothing to do with the G7 summit. He wished happy birthdays to Sean Connery and Regis Philbin. He thanked Fox News clowns Diamond & Silk for a flattering tweet that was more than a month old. He defended his blasphemous assertion that he was “the Chosen One” and the “second coming of God.” And he kept his Twitterati apprised of every time he had a meal.

However, by far Trump’s pronouncements revolved around his paranoid obsession with the media. It’s a topic so consuming that he virtually ignores everything else going on at at this annual gathering. At least seven times he whined about one complaint or another with the press that he regards as “the enemy of the people.” And this hyper-concentration on this subject managed to make the full circle back to a bizarre projection of his own neuroses onto others. In the course of this dissembling, Trump manufactures flagrant lies to support his delusions. For instance:

So Trump wants people to believe that the heads of the world’s biggest countries are all concerned, not with critical matters of international economics, but with Trump’s personal battle with the press that he despises. He tries to pretend that the problem is with media hating America, as opposed to the media simply doing its job by reporting on him and his administration’s efforts to ignore looming threats. He is not America. Trump also accuses the press of rooting for the country to fail when, in fact, they are only covering the very real danger signs in the economy. Dangers that he himself is responsible for, and may even have intended for his own benefit.

In addition to this ludicrous assertion that all the other world leaders are hounding him with questions about the press, Trump also tweeted that “The Media is destroying the Free Press!” Which is like saying that the shoes are destroying those things you wear on your feet. He claimed the press is trying to “force a Recession.” Which, if the past is any indicator, would likely hurt the media more than most other businesses. He said that the media’s purpose in destroying itself is to hurt his prospects for reelection. Which is a pretty unselfish thing to do, don’t you think?

Trump also tweet-bragged about disreputable polling in order to stroke his own fragile ego. But he forgot to note that even a couple of his favorite pollsters showed him at low points of the year. And he twice ranted about Fox News hiring former Democratic National Committee official, Donna Brazile, falsely accusing her of giving Hillary Clinton debate questions. He’s still obsessing over the 2016 election.

It would be nice to say that the American people can rest assured that their President is hard at work in France, hammering out global solutions with other leaders. But no one thought that was going to happen anyway. As usual, he is embarrassing himself and the country with his ignorance, incompetence, and narcissism. And he continues to make the case for his impeachment and/or commitment to an institution – penal or mental, take your pick.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

Why the Press Needs to Quit Being Pawns in Trump’s Lie-Riddled ‘Chopper Talk’ Reality Show

Posted by on August 24, 2019 at 2:43 pm. 5 Comments :

It has been 166 days since the last White House press briefing. This is an unprecedented and deliberate strategy by the Trump regime to deprive the press – and by extension the American people – of critical information regarding the affairs of the government that is supposed to be serving them.

Donald Trump

The last press briefing was held by former press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who is now working for Fox News. The new press secretary is a two-time drunk driver with a shady resume, Stephanie Grisham, who has not held a single press briefing. You have to wonder why Trump even bothers to have a communications staff when they aren’t doing their job.

The argument from the White House is that Trump is his own best spokesperson and that he provides more frequent access to the media than they would have with conventional press briefings. There is some truth that. Trump does address the press whenever he’s traveling to or from the White House. It’s generally an informal gathering on the West Wing lawn with the whirring of a helicopter in the background. Hence “Chopper Talk.” However, it might be more accurate to call it “Whopper Talk,” because all he does is lie and and obstruct any kind of substantive dialog or dissemination of useful info.

These media scrums are not substitutes for real press briefings. They are lame versions of a reality show that Trump seems to think he’s still on. Reporters are not permitted to ask follow up questions, and often aren’t even allowed to get their initial questions out without Trump interrupting them. In many instances Trump will call on a reporter, but when he gets the gist of the question will stop it and complain that he doesn’t like the question or the reporter asking it. Then he moves on to his next victim. The whole thing is a complete waste of time. Trump himself said that it’s “ridiculous” that the media always covers him live.

During this charade it is usually impossible to hear the actual questions. So Trump’s answers are often disassociated from any intelligible topic. Not that his answers aren’t always incoherent, but without the questions it makes it even worse. And when there is an exchange that is audible, Trump’s replies are littered with flagrant falsehoods. But the press isn’t able to point that out and require Trump to validate his often ludicrous assertions (like “China pays the tariffs” or that there is no recession, or his being “the Chosen One“). Jesse Watters of Fox News offered a helpful explanation for why Trump favors this method of dealing with the media (video below):

“What he does is this walk to Marine One. This is the way he kind of conducts the orchestra. He’s saying “No. Shut up. Stop with the asinine questions. And he kind of glides down the row and kind of conducts the press like a maestro. And it’s a brilliant performance.

Watters is actually complimenting Trump here. He thinks it’s good thing when the President “orchestrates” his media avails so that only his spin is delivered, rather than truths the public can rely on. He praises the President’s “performance” as if this were all just playacting, rather than serious discussions that impact people’s lives. Watters also approves of Trump telling reporters to “shut up.” But it’s downright bizarre for someone on an alleged “news” network to celebrate a political leader for violating the First Amendment rights of the press. Watters continued saying that…

The other thing it does is, it removes the faces of the preening media reporters from the television. They shoot them from behind so they don’t get to stand up and really get their face on camera, and that shuts them down so they can’t pose.”

This is another example of Fox News applauding Trump for diminishing reporters and suppressing the value of their work and the importance of their contribution to democracy. At Fox the only priority is propping up Dear Leader and maligning his critics. They have no respect for the media or the Constitution’s protection for it.

The same thing is true for Trump, who’s dismantling of the White House facility for communicating with the people is undemocratic and dangerous. And for that reason, the press should refrain from participating in the sham that Trump has concocted to replace real press briefings.

His predictable ranting is pretty much the same every time. He calls the media “the enemy of the people,” lies about what he said the day before, and brags about achievements that don’t exist in real life. Why should the press bother to show up for those sorts of soap opera thatrics? Just let him get on his helicopter and fly off to his next cult rally and tell those lies to his Deplorables.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

https://www.foxnews.com/media/trump-media-watters-news-nbc-cnn